- The Magic have added Adetunji Adedipe to their basketball operations department and also named him the assistant GM of their new G-League team in Lakeland, the team announced via press release. Adedipe has been with the Magic organization for three seasons and served as basketball operations coordinator with the G-League’s Erie BayHawks last year.
- Atlanta-based Sharecare has reached a five-year deal to become the official jersey patch sponsor of the Hawks, according to Zach Klein of WSBTV.com. Founded in 2010, Sharecare is a digital health company.
The Magic have signed power forward Adreian Payne to a two-way contract, the team announced in a press release.
Payne, 26, recently declined an offer from Guangdong in the Chinese Basketball Association worth $900K.
The former Michigan State standout has been a disappointment since he was selected by the Hawks with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2014 draft. He played just three games for Atlanta before he was shipped to the Timberwolves during his rookie year. Payne made 22 starts with Minnesota as a first-year player, then saw action in 52 games (including two starts) the following season.
He appeared in just 18 games last season, averaging 3.5 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 7.5 MPG. Payne also spent time with the G-League’s Erie BayHawks.
Payne is the first player to sign a two-way deal with Orlando. The Magic are eligible to sign one more player to such a contract.
Two more Heat players have spoken out about the possibility of bringing back Dwyane Wade if he agrees to a buyout with the Bulls, relays Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Hassan Whiteside and Wayne Ellington both endorsed the move during an appearance Saturday at a Whiteside Foundation fundraiser. “He’s a great basketball-IQ guy,” Whiteside said. “He can find you on a lob. He can find you on a pick-and-roll situation. He’s a great scorer.”
Whiteside had previously backed a reunion with Wade through a nodding GIF on social media, but these were his first public comments on the potential move. Wade, who spent 13 years in Miami before signing with Chicago last summer, remains a popular figure in South Florida, but he would have to give up a significant portion of his $23.8MM salary for a buyout to occur. Ellington, who is among the players who might see a reduced role if Wade returns, is also on board. “Obviously this is something that D-Wade helped build,” he said, “so obviously this city and us as a team being able to have somebody like that on our team would be amazing.”
There’s more today from the Southeast Division:
- The terms of Jordan Mickey‘s two-year agreement with the Heat have been confirmed, Winderman adds in the same story. The former Celtic’s first season will be guaranteed at the $1.5MM veteran’s minimum and the second will be a team option.
- The Hornets are in the market for a new assistant coach after Bob Weiss left to join the Nuggets, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. The 75-year-old had been with Charlotte since Steve Clifford was hired as head coach in 2013. Weiss opted to take a job in Denver to be closer to his grandchildren, and Clifford hopes to find another veteran coach to replace him.
- Sharecare, a digital health company based in Atlanta, agreed to a five-year deal this week to become the Hawks‘ jersey patch sponsor, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta. “Every team has had their own strategy with regard to patch partners,” said Andrew Saltzman, executive vice president and chief revenue officer for the team. “But ours is very clear: true to Atlanta and making this a component of a much larger and fully integrated partnership that benefits our fan base, Atlanta as a whole and certainly our partner and ourselves.”
During the 2016 NBA offseason, when the salary camp jumped from $70MM to $94MM, 27 teams had cap room available, with only three clubs operating over the cap all year. A more modest cap increase this year to $99MM meant that fewer teams had cap space to use. So far, 14 teams – less than half the league – have used cap room to sign players.
Of those 14 teams, several have since used up all their cap room, including the Celtics, Knicks, Jazz, Lakers, and Timberwolves. However, there are still several teams around the NBA that have room available, or could create it without waiving and stretching any players on guaranteed salaries.
With the help of data from HeatHoops and Basketball Insiders, here’s a quick breakdown of teams that still have cap room available, along with their estimated space:
- Atlanta Hawks: $4.6MM. The Hawks could gain slightly more space by waiving Luke Babbitt, whose salary is only partially guaranteed, but Atlanta just signed Babbitt, so that’s not a likely move.
- Brooklyn Nets: $6.6MM. The Nets could gain slightly more space by waiving Spencer Dinwiddie, whose minimum salary contract is mostly non-guaranteed. However, I expect Brooklyn to keep Dinwiddie on its roster.
- Denver Nuggets: $2.8MM. With Mason Plumlee‘s cap hold still on their books, the Nuggets’ cap room is fairly negligible. Denver could get up to about $8.6MM by renouncing Plumlee, but there’s no indication that’s in the plans.
- Indiana Pacers: $7.6MM.
- Philadelphia 76ers: $15.1MM. The Sixers could create even more space by waiving a player on a non-guaranteed contract, but the team isn’t about to part with Robert Covington, Richaun Holmes, or T.J. McConnell.
- Phoenix Suns: $6.3MM. Alex Len‘s cap hold is taking up $12MM right now, and Phoenix is carrying a pair of non-guaranteed contracts (Elijah Millsap and Derrick Jones), so in theory the Suns could get all the way up to $21.2MM in space by renouncing Len and cutting those non-guaranteed players.
- Sacramento Kings: $4.3MM.
The following two teams are essentially capped-out, but could create a very small amount of room if necessary:
- Miami Heat: The Heat could create close to $1MM in space by waiving Rodney McGruder and Okaro White, whose salaries aren’t fully guaranteed. That almost certainly won’t happen.
- Orlando Magic: The Magic are currently under the cap by about $550K, and could create up to about $1.34MM in space by waiving Khem Birch, whose salary is mostly non-guaranteed. Again, that’s not likely.
The following two teams are technically operating over the cap at the moment, with various trade and mid-level exceptions pushing them over the threshold, but they could create room if they choose to go under the cap:
- Chicago Bulls: The Bulls could immediately create about $13.5MM in room by renouncing the rest of their MLE and the $15MM trade exception generated in the Jimmy Butler deal. If the team chose to waive David Nwaba, who is on a non-guaranteed deal, and renounced its free agent cap holds, including Nikola Mirotic‘s, that figure would increase to about $25.8MM.
- Dallas Mavericks: Even without renouncing Nerlens Noel‘s cap hold, the Mavericks could get to $11.6MM in cap room by waiving their non-guaranteed players and dipping below the cap. Removing Noel’s cap hold on top of that could get the Mavs up over $22MM in room, but there’s been no indication that Dallas plans to go that route.
The Hawks were in the bottom half of the league in three-point shooting last season, but the team’s front office believes the addition of Luke Babbitt will help them improve in that area, as KL Chouinard of NBA.com relays.
“Luke is a proven veteran and adds another experienced player to our locker room,” GM Travis Schlenk said of Babbitt. “He is one of the premier long-range shooting big men in the league, has played a variety of roles over his career and will contribute to our team.”
Babbitt, who inked a one-year deal with Atlanta last week, said he’s excited to play under coach Mike Budenholzer.
“When I got the call, the first thing I thought of was Coach Bud. I’ve always respected what he did from afar,” Babbitt said. “I’m really excited to play for him and be with this young group of guys.”
Here’s more from Atlanta:
- Babbitt continued to praise the Hawks‘ system, citing the ball movement and the unselfishness in how the players operate on the floor, as KL Chouinard passes along in the same piece. The small forward believes he can assist the team’s playmakers with his ability to space the floor. “Dennis [Schroder] and (Kent Bazemore], they’re the attackers on this team,” Babbitt said. “It’s something I’m really looking forward to this season: creating space and opportunities for them.”
- Atlanta pried Dewayne Dedmon away the from the Spurs in free agency and Buddy Grizzard of Basketball Insiders believes the signing could have major upside. Dedmon, who’s on a two-year, $14MM deal, didn’t play basketball until he was a junior in college, meaning he only has been on the court for slightly over seven years.
- While the Hawks will likely take a step back this season, tanking is something that interests coach Budenholzer, Grizzard writes in the same piece. The scribe adds that the goal of the front office is to retool while remaining competitive.
- Half of Luke Babbitt‘s nearly $2MM contract with the Hawks is guaranteed, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
After a quiet offseason, the Magic could be one of the league’s biggest sellers, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes. Other teams that could look to aggressively shop their assets include the Suns and Hawks.
Orlando’s front office was smart to lay low and gauge their own in-house talent, Kyler says, now they’ll look to start shaping their future with a number of notable trade chips ranging from Nikola Vucevic on a $12.3MM contract to D.J. Augustin ($7.3MM).
Phoenix, having stockpiled youth for years, could be in a similar boat, eager to unload contributing pieces to the highest bidder. While linked to Kyrie Irving for much of the past few weeks, the Suns won’t be afraid to shop players like Tyson Chandler or Eric Bledsoe around elsewhere if it means they can improve their standing as a franchise.
Kyler notes that the Hawks, fresh off of a summer that saw them part ways with Paul Millsap and Dwight Howard, could be in the market to deal. The club, he says, is in full-rebuild mode now after a year of half measures.
The Nuggets, Bulls and Lakers, Kyler says, could also be sellers over the course of the 2017/18 campaign.
There’s more from around the league.
- Former NBA big man Jeff Ayres has signed a contract to play with Eskisehir Basket in Turkey, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports.
- An ESPN Insider report penned by Kevin Pelton zeroes in on the league’s most recent transactions, suggesting that the Knicks‘ move to land Michael Beasley could reflect that the organization is bracing for a future without Carmelo Anthony.
- The Superteam Era has hurt the chances small market teams have to compete and there’s no sign that it will end any time soon, Chris Mannix of The Vertical writes. So long as players are willing to forego max money in order to sign with other stars, there’s little the league can do to curb it.
AUGUST 9: The Hawks have officially signed Babbitt, the team confirmed today in a press release.
AUGUST 4: The Hawks have reached an agreement to sign free agent forward Luke Babbitt, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, Babbitt will receive a one-year contract from Atlanta.
Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter) that Babbitt’s one-year deal will be worth $1.9MM. The minimum salary in 2017/18 for a player with Babbitt’s experience is $1,974,159, so it sounds like it’ll be a minimum pact.
Babbitt, 28, spent last season with another Southeast team, averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 68 games for Miami. Although Babbitt’s numbers were modest, he started 55 games for Miami and knocked down 41.4% of his three-point attempts, playing a role for the club during its 30-11 second-half run.
Few players have been as reliable from outside in recent years as Babbitt, who has made an impressive 43.8% of his long-distance attempts since the start of the 2014/15 season. He’ll bring that shooting touch to an Atlanta team that waived Mike Dunleavy Jr. earlier this summer.
Babbitt was one of five notable free agent forwards we identified as potentially intriguing investments earlier this week. The other four, including Dunleavy, remain on the open market.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
For multiple teams in the Southeast, the 2017 offseason was more about retaining their own players than going out and making a major splash via trade or free agency. That was especially true for the reigning division champs in Washington.
Not only did the Wizards match Brooklyn’s four-year, maximum salary offer sheet for Otto Porter — the club also completed another four-year, maximum salary extension, locking up John Wall far beyond the remaining two years on his current contract. Washington also made other minor changes to its roster, adding Jodie Meeks and Tim Frazier, but the team’s major moves involved keeping its current core intact.
The same can be said about the Heat, who pursued Gordon Hayward, but missed out and quickly shifted their focus back to their own free agents, finalizing new long-term contracts with James Johnson and Dion Waiters. Miami also made the biggest investment in the division on an outside free agent, striking a four-year, $45.6MM deal with Kelly Olynyk, which could be worth even more via incentives.
The Hawks brought back Ersan Ilyasova and Mike Muscala on new deals, but opted not to re-sign their top free agent, letting Paul Millsap go to Denver. The move was one of several made by Atlanta that will re-shape the roster for 2017/18. Dewayne Dedmon, Miles Plumlee, and Marco Belinelli are among the newly-added Hawks, while Tim Hardaway, Dwight Howard, Thabo Sefolosha, and Mike Dunleavy are a few of the players who left Atlanta this summer.
The Hornets were on the other end of a major trade with Atlanta, landing Howard in exchange for Belinelli and Plumlee. The cap-strapped Hornets didn’t have a lot of flexibility to make upgrades, but the additions of Howard, Malik Monk, and Michael Carter-Williams are intriguing moves for a club that underperformed in 2016/17.
Meanwhile, the Magic didn’t make any big-money investments in free agency, but landed Jonathon Simmons, Shelvin Mack, Arron Afflalo, and Marreese Speights on affordable deals, and added a tantalizing athlete in Jonathan Isaac in the draft.
What do you think? Which Southeast team has had the best offseason so far? Vote in our poll and then head to the comment section to share your thoughts.
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Previously:
The Heat should try to get Josh Richardson to sign an extension as soon as possible, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. After two NBA seasons, the former second-round pick is eligible for an extension up to four years and $42MM that would take effect with the 2018/19 season. Even at the full price, Richardson’s starting salary that year will be $9.4MM, which could be a bargain for someone who has been a contributor when he’s been healthy.
The deadline for an extension doesn’t come until June 30th, and Winderman thinks Richardson might be wise to wait. If there’s no agreement, he will become a restricted free agent in July, with the Heat having the right to match any offer. The team will also have full Bird Rights, which would eliminate the possibility of a backloaded contract like the one the Nets offered Tyler Johnson. Winderman also notes that Miami will send two of its next four first-rounders to Phoenix in the Goran Dragic trade, so it can’t afford to lose a young talent like Richardson.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- With their current cap status, the Heat have little reason to try to move Johnson’s contract before it balloons in 2018/19, Winderman adds in a question-and-answer column. Johnson will make close to $5.9MM for the upcoming season, then nearly $19.25MM in each of the next two years. It’s a provision that Brooklyn threw into its offer sheet in an attempt to discourage the Heat from matching, and it was eliminated in the new collective-bargaining agreement. Winderman states that if Miami is successful with its current mix of players, the team will continue to operate over the cap and Johnson’s escalation won’t really matter.
- With a supermax contract in hand, Wizards star John Wall has outlined several goals for the rest of his career, relays Chase Hughes of CSNMidAtlantic. At a press conference Friday to officially announce the new deal, Wall said he wants to win a championship in Washington and become the fifth player in franchise history to have his number retired. “We definitely have a lot of unfinished business,” Wall told reporters. “I want to bring a championship here, so we’re going to keep striving to get that. I’m not going to stop until we get there. That’s why I wanted to come back to this city.”
- The Hawks are adopting a radical approach as they take over the G League franchise in Erie, Pa., writes Chris Reichert of 2 Ways and 10 Days. Instead of finding people with G League experience to run the team, they appointed Malik Rose as general manager and last week hired longtime NBA assistant Josh Longstaff as the head coach. Because Orlando pulled its G-League team out of Erie and took its returning player rights, the Bayhawks will be part of the expansion draft August 23rd.